Naming Your Homeschool

If your school does not currently have a name, there are several options open to you.

1. The best option is to name your school.

You may never have thought about a name for your family's homeschool, and some parents draw a blank when asked the name of their school. Your homeschool IS a school, so if you've not yet named it, don't hesitate! It's an opportunity to express the ideas, value and goals that have inspired your homeschooling journey. Do you need ideas? Many people simply use "Johnson Home School" if their name is Johnson.  Others choose a nearby natural feature, such as a creek, harbor, ridge, etc. -- "Rocky Harbor Academy," or "Walnut Grove Home School," for example.  Others do not want the diploma to say "home school" and they will use the words "Christian School," "High School," or "Academy" instead.  You might name your home school in memory of a grandparent or other influential or admirable person, such as "J. William Preston High School.

If you have followed a curriculum from a particular school, please do not give the curriculum as the name of your school. We won't make a diploma for you that says "Christian Liberty Academy," just as we would not make one that has the name of your local public high school on it! However, you may incorporate the name of the curriculum into your school name -- for example, "Johnson's Christian Liberty Homeschool" would make it clear that the diploma was issued by the home school.

If your student has participated in programs or classes at a local public school but is not graduating from there, you cannot use the public school name on the diploma you purchase from us. If you want a diploma with the name of a public school, you'll have to ask the school to issue it.

If you are naming your school for the first time, keep in mind that the length of the name influences the appearance of the diploma. A name like "Smith School" is so short that it will not appear to arch over the top of the diploma no matter how large a type size is used. In fact, if the school name is just one word and fewer than 14 characters we will not attempt to create an arch with it; it will look best STRAIGHT. Conversely, a name that is longer than 30 letters will have to have the font size reduced in order to fit it all on one line. For an ideal fit, the school name should be between 17 and 27 characters, including spaces. (Our order form will allow a maximum of 36 characters for the school name. If you need more than that, call us so that we can give you instructions. We can reduce the font size, or we can break the name onto two lines (there is an additional charge for that custom layout). We do our best to make the diploma look good no matter what the school name; these are simply guidelines that you may want to take into consideration.

An acronym may appear to be a way to get a long school name into a small space, but it seldom really looks very good. Unfortunately, in the fancy gothic type style, acronyms are often unreadable, especially without periods between them. See the image below for a visual example of a school names using an acronym.  If you like this look, there is nothing wrong with using an acronym, but we want you to be aware of the legibility issue.

2. You may use the words "Diploma of Graduation" or "Certificate of Graduation"

These phrases can be used at the top of the diploma in lieu of a school name if you wish. Just write those words in the box labeled "School Name." We don't feel that this is the BEST option, but it is one that is open to you! (If you are ordering a Personalized Diploma #3 and have chosen this option, you may want to request a change and have us leave off the word "DIPLOMA" that appears directly under the school name. We can do this if you ask for it.)

Below: examples of all capital letters and an acronym used in a school name: